2. Background
• The decentralization of public authority, transfer of the
competences, powers and public resources to local and
regional government has brought many positives, but it
also means an increase in perceived corruption at this
level of governance.
• As it is clear from the current poll , almost one third of
citizens perceive the corruption in local government as
very extended in the long term.
3. Background
Local council, local government
(FOCUS, November 2009/March 2006/May 2004/March 2002/October 1999,
% of respondents)
November 2009 28 25 25 9 14
March 2006 28 20 28 8 16
May 2004 28 19 25 8 20
March 2002 25 20 23 10 22
October 1999 27 20 24 5 24
bribery exists and is widespread it exists and is less widespread
it exists but cano not judge its occurence bribery does not exists
do not know whether bribery exists in this area
4. The most vulnerable areas according to the
poll
AREA 1 2 3 9
recruitment policy 50,6 21 3,9 24,6
selling of municipal real estates 40,8 19,1 11 29,2
issuing of distinct permissions 40,6 28,7 2,4 28,2
public procurement 36,3 23,4 3,4 36,9
construction proceeding 35,2 29,1 5,2 30,5
renting of non-residential spaces 32,9 26 11,7 29,5
renting of flats 27,5 26,1 19,4 27,1
selling of flats into individual assets 26,1 26,1 20,1 27,8
selling of flats into individual assets 26,1 26,1 20,1 27,8
Source: FOCUS for TI Slovakia, November 2007
5. Development of audit strategy - history
• TI Slovakia involvement in local governments since 1999
• Best practices transfer
• 2008 – cooperation with the city of Martin – project
„Transparent city“
• TI Slovakia - strategy and methodology for audits of city policies
in relation to corruption potential
• TI Slovakia – development of anti-corruption tools for the city
6. Methodology
three phases
17 municipal policies:
• public property sales and leasing policy • land use planning and construction policy
• recruitment policy/staffing • grant-giving policy
• policy of civic participation in municipal • policy of transparency of legal entities
decision-making constituted and established by municipality
• access to information policy: accessing vs. • public procurement policy
disclosing • policy of public-private partnerships
• communication/media policy • housing policy
• ethical infrastructure and conflict of • policy of allocation of places in municipal
interest of elected representatives social care facilities
• ethical infrastructure and conflict of • policy of budgeting and informing public
interest of the City Hall employees about it
• ethical infrastructure and conflict of • policy of public order
interest of employees of municipal
companies
7. I. phase
• Aim: • Activity:
– identification of the areas that are – audit of the current state of the 17
the most vulnerable to corruption policies stated before
– gathering data about particular
• Precondition: policies from the City Hall
– establishment of the team employees through questionnaires
consisting of the TI Slovakia – meetings and consultations with
experts and the City Hall employees the city deputies and relevant
emploees
– own research on the city rules and
• Output: procedures and webchecking
– audit report
– analysis of the data and documents
- assessment of the questionnaires
The basic concept through which TI Slovakia evaluate the policies is
Corruption = Monopoly + Discretionary power – Transparency*
*Klitgaard, R. Controlling Corruption. Berkeley and los Angeles, university of California Press, 1998.
8. II. phase
• Aim: • Activity:
– development of anti-corruption – meetings with local government
policies for each of the 17 policies. – development of anti-corruption
recommendations built for the
• Precondition: particular conditions of given local
– local government can choose government
priority areas (policies) for which it – methodology is also based on
would consider adoption of anti- Klitgaard's formula, so the
corruption measurements recommendations are focused on
the process of transparency
• Output: increasing and decreasing of
– report: anti-corruption policy discretionary power in particular
recommendations policies in local government.
– inspiration also comes from the
best practises abroad
9. II. phase
Examples of best practises:
• many recommendations concern active • method of the random selection when
disclosure of information through the deciding on allocation of local
municipal web page and introduction of government social flats
electronic register for various kinds of • recommendation to conduct auction
applications when deciding about renting or selling
• strengthening protection and rules for flats
potential whistleblowers - as a • using e-auctions in public procurement
protection for employees who report • draft of the Code of Conduct
inappropriate behaviour in their
office/department. • introduction of Ethics Commissioner
10. III. phase
• Aim: • Activity:
– assistance (training, discussions, – discussions between TI and local
workshops ) with the process of government about the anti-
adopting of anti-corruption corruption recommendations
recommendation – drafts of new by-laws and
regulations adapted to municipal
• Precondition: conditions
– the interest of the local government – TI assistance with implementation
to change situation and implement of these regulations
recommendations into legislative – training/workshops of the elected
representatives and relevant
• Output: employees of the City Hall
– adoption of new regulations into organized by TI
municipal legislative
11. Experiences of TI Slovakia with audits
• TI Slovakia executed audits in the following
municipalities:
Martin
- was given the UN Public Service Award in the category
“Preventing and Combating Corruption in the Public Service”
for its anti-corruption reforms
Žiar nad Hronom
Prievidza
Banská Bystrica
Bratislava-Ružinov
12. Summary
• The project has impact on everyone who is a part of the public life.
• After successful implementation of anti-corruption recommendation
the public can monitor, judge and react on the local administration
more efficient.
• The added value of this is that the local administration can win back
the public trust in the processes of execution of local government
administration. This, subsequently, is reflected on the public
participation in public affairs.
• From the point of view of the employees and elected representatives of
municipality, the project sets clear rules in decision-making processes.
• As the result, this limits the space for corruption behaviour.
